Saturday, July 29, 2017

Keeping Up Appearances

Gene had arrived at college with some pretty lofty ideals. He wore the label of social justice warrior proudly. He was anti-fur, vegetarian, anti-gun, but still prided himself on open-mindedness. Early into his second semester, he was given an opportunity to sign up for an experiment, to switch bodies with another student at school. He jumped at the chance to better understand someone else’s struggles, especially when he found out the other person would be a woman. What better way to understand the injustices involved in gender?

However, swapping with Gwen was nothing like she expected. She was a member of the campus’s young Republicans. She wore fur coats and leather pants. She kept a gun in her purse. Gene could cope with spending some time in a woman’s body, but spending time in the body of a conservative made him a bit more uncomfortable. According to the agreement, he was going to have to keep up appearances. He’d have to attend her Young Republicans meetings; he’d have to keep wearing fur and leather; he’d also have to keep eating meat. It was going to be a tougher week than he ever expected.